General Oversight Information
Oversight Committee

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Oversight Information

The Director leads the M.D./Ph.D. Program and exercises overall responsibility for its direction and administration. In consultation with an Admissions Committee and an Oversight Committee, the Director is charged with ensuring success in all areas of the Program including recruitment, admissions, mentorship, and curriculum development. The Office of Graduate Biomedical Education, which supports the Director, has primary responsibility for recruitment activities and directs the creation and dissemination of information about the Georgetown University M.D./Ph.D. Program including a specific plan for recruiting minority candidates.

The Director is also specifically charged with the following:

• staffing the Admissions Committee and the Oversight Committee, including the coordination and execution of all necessary admissions and recruitment functions;
• working closely with the administrations of the School of Medicine and the Graduate School to identify and resolve student issues/concerns on an as-needed basis and to ensure smooth transitions throughout the combined-degree Program;
• coordinating structured informational sessions during the first year with each of the participating graduate programs in order to provide students with a comprehensive overview of their Ph.D. program options;
• hosting periodic luncheons at which the Director meets separately with each class of the M.D./Ph.D. Program to discuss issues and concerns;
• sponsoring and organizing periodic social functions to bring students, administration, and faculty together in congenial get-togethers;
• providing logistical support to the M.D./Ph.D. Student Seminar Series;
• providing general oversight of and continuity to the mentorship of students throughout the combined-degree program;
• follow-up of students after graduation.

The Admissions Committee is appointed by the Director and is responsible for the varied admissions functions. It interviews candidates and reviews and ranks applicants for admission to the Program. The Oversight Committee is responsible for monitoring students' progress throughout the combined-degree program. It also reviews the credentials of faculty and approves qualified investigators as research mentors for the M.D./Ph.D. Program. The Committee also assigns Career Mentors to each incoming student to guide the selection of research rotations and the selection of a sponsoring graduate program. The Career Mentor, in consultation with the Oversight Committee, follows the progress of students during their entire training experience, assuring that each student is obtaining the optimal training experience and career counseling.

With the advent of the "undifferentiated admission" mechanism, the Admissions Committee assumed responsibility for reviewing applicants on behalf of all participating graduate programs. As such, its membership is broad-based and representative of the current participating graduate training programs.

The following are the criteria used in the selection of Committee members:

• experience in training physician-scientists;
• experience in training biomedical graduate students;
• peer-reviewed research grant support;
• and scientific publication record.

At least one member of the Committee is selected from the membership of the Admissions Committee for the School of Medicine to provide a liaison between the two admissions and review processes. There is also a designated representative who serves as a liaison between the Admissions Committee and the Department of Philosophy for the review of bioethics applicants. Two student representatives (who have completed at least the first two years of the program) also serve on the Admissions Committee as appointed by the Director.

 

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